palliate

pal·li·ate  (pl-t)

tr.v. pal·li·at·ed, pal·li·at·ing, pal·li·ates

1. To make (an offense or crime) seem less serious; extenuate.

2. To make less severe or intense; mitigate: tried unsuccessfully to palliate the widespread discontent.

3. To relieve the symptoms of a disease or disorder.

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[Middle English palliaten, from Late Latin pallire, pallit-, to cloak, palliate, from Latin pallium, cloak.]

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palli·ation n.

palli·ator n.

Synonyms: palliate, extenuate, gloss¹, gloze, whitewash
These verbs mean to cause a fault or offense to seem less grave or less reprehensible: palliate a crime; couldn't extenuate the malfeasance; glossing over an unethical transaction; glozing sins and iniquities; whitewashed official complicity in political extortion. See Also Synonyms at relieve.

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palliate

Verb

[-ating, -ated]

1. to lessen the severity of (pain or disease) without curing it

2. to cause (an offence) to seem less serious [Latin pallium a cloak]

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	palliate - lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of; "The circumstances extenuate the crime" extenuate, mitigate law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order" apologise, rationalize, apologize, rationalise, justify, excuse - defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success"
	2.	palliate - provide physical relief, as from pain; "This pill will relieve your headaches" alleviate, relieve, assuage soothe - cause to feel better; "the medicine soothes the pain of the inflammation" comfort, ease - lessen pain or discomfort; alleviate; "ease the pain in your legs" ameliorate, improve, meliorate, amend, better - to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes"